LOCA and LOFA Safety Margin Analysis for U-10Mo Monolithic LEU Fuel Conversion of the MURR{sup R} Reactor

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:23050322

Jaluvka, David; Feldman, Earl E.; Stillman, John A.; Wilson, Erik H. ^[1]; McKibben, Charles; Foyto, Leslie P. ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States)
2. University of Missouri Research Reactor, 1513 Research Park Drive, Columbia, MO 65211 (United States)

The University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR{sup R}) is a multi-disciplinary research and education facility providing a broad range of analytical and irradiation services to the research community and the commercial sector. The source of neutrons for the experimental facilities of MURR{sup R} is a compact 10 MW core fueled with highly-enriched uranium (HEU) fuel. The continued presence of HEU fuel in civilian installations such as research and test reactors poses a threat to national and international security. Therefore, most research and test reactors, both domestic and international, have started a program of conversion to the use of low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. MURR{sup R} is one of five U.S. high-performance research and test reactors (USHPRRs) that are actively collaborating with the U.S. National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3) to develop a suitable LEU fuel replacement for the currently required HEU fuel. A new type of high-density LEU fuel based on an alloy of uranium and molybdenum is currently undergoing qualification testing, and is expected to allow the conversion of all USHPRRs. As a part of the LEU conversion of MURR{sup R}, an analysis of core behavior under a set of accident conditions for a core fueled with an LEU monolithic alloy of uranium and 10 wt% molybdenum (U-10Mo) has been conducted. This paper presents the newest results for the loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) and loss-of-flow accidents (LOFAs). Other classes of accidents have also been investigated but were not included here. Namely, reactivity insertion accidents (RIAs), fuel failure during operations accidents (FFAs), and fuel handling accidents (FHAs)

• OSTI ID: 23050322
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 116; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ALLOYS
COMMERCIAL SECTOR
DENSITY
FUEL HANDLING ACCIDENTS
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
IRRADIATION
LOSS OF COOLANT
LOSS OF FLOW
MINIMIZATION
MOLYBDENUM
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR SECURITY
PERFORMANCE
REACTIVITY INSERTIONS
RESEARCH REACTORS
SAFETY MARGINS
TESTING